1996 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Mesofauna
Author : E. Meyer
Published in: Methods in Soil Biology
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Included in: Professional Book Archive
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Enchytraeidae are small oligochaetes of large soil-biological importance. They feed on substrate like plant litter, fungi, mineral partiles, or faeces from other soil animals. They are very adaptable, occur everywhere from mineral soils to deciduous litter, and are mostly aggregated. Potworms establish partially high seasonally variable abundance and biomass (in coniferous forests up to 105 individuals (ind.) · m-2= ca. 2.5 g fresh mass (fm) · m-2. When compared to earthworms, they show higher metabolic activity for equal mass. Potworms occur in almost all soils with sufficient moisture.